


My Name Is The Master

by UnluckiestFridays



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Minor The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Old Friends, Torture, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2019-11-04 03:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17890328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnluckiestFridays/pseuds/UnluckiestFridays
Summary: Following a distress signal, the Doctor and her fam find themselves at the mercy of one of the Master's sick games.With the TARDIS gone, her sonic confiscated, and her friends locked up in a seperate cell to her, they may be stuck for a while until the Doctor can think of a way to outsmart her old frenemy.





	1. Chapter One

The lights inside the TARDIS console room turned red, flashing constantly as an alarm blared throughout the room. The Doctor made her way expertly around the console, hearing but not answering her new friends' confused questions. She stopped at the monitor and tilted it a bit to read it with a serious expression. 

She read the circular words and a grin spread across her face despite what it said- a distress signal. Coming from somewhere far across the galaxy, on a planet unknown even to her. Somewhere called Jottoh. She loved exploring places she'd never been before- especially of she could make a good first impression by hopefully saving everyone.

"To answer all your questions," she said to her friends, finally acknowledging them, "the TARDIS just picked up a distress signal." 

"Why's it flashing red, then?" Ryan asked. "It don't normally do that." 

" _She_ , Ryan," the Doctor corrected, exasperated, "and, I suppose she must've thought this one was pretty important. Not the first time she's done it." 

Graham, who was holding onto one of the honey-coloured crystals for dear life with all the rocking and shaking the TARDIS was doing, spoke up next, "I suppose we'll be followin' the distress signal, then?"

"Of course!" Answered the Doctor as if it were obvious- and with her, it was. "Can't just leave people in need of a hand, can I?"

"S'ppose not," Graham agreed. "So, where is this signal comin' from, may I ask?" He continued when the Doctor got to work piloting them to their destination.

The Doctor pulled a final lever, ultimately ending the loud alarms ceased, as did the lights and the shaking. "Jottoh," she told him, "oh, I hope I said that right. I've never been there before, never even heard of it until now! But they need our help and when people need help, I never refuse." 

"Let me get this straight," Graham said, "we're about to go out there, to a planet not even you've been to, unprepared?"

"Yep! Should be fun, right? Love not knowing stuff! Wait, no. That's not right. I hate not knowing stuff. Oh, well. Let's go, fam," the Doctor rambled and rushed off to the doors. 

"Though we weren't doin' 'fam'?" Ryan complained, cringing. 

The Doctor turned to him, looking mildly upset and trying to do puppy eyes. Ryan sighed and shoved his hands deep in his pocket, trying to avoid her gaze. When he could still see from his peripheral vision that she was still facing him, he groaned.

"Fine," he relented, "I'll let it go just this once."

"See, knew you'd come 'round!" She said happily, brightening immediately.

As the Doctor exited the TARDIS, she could hear Graham chuckling and Yaz mocking Ryan from behind her. 

"Glad to see you're warming up to it," she said and there was the distinct sound of Ryan grunting, and the Doctor knew she must've been nudging him.

Ryan huffed, "no, she cheated!" He protested. "She did those... _eyes_ ," he said weakly.

"Nah, I think you secretly like us bein' called 'fam'," Yaz laughed. 

Leading the way, the Doctor grinned smugly, knowing she'd won. She'd have to remember for later that 'the eyes' worked on Ryan.

A distant sound alerted them all, and the group each stopped in their tracks, listening. The sound was familiar, the Doctor could recognise it in a hearts beat. She spun around, looking back in the direction of her TARDIS and listened for just a second more to the sound of the Cloister Bells.

"What is it, Doc?" Graham questioned, apparently noticing her worried look.

"The TARDIS- the Cloister Bells. We need to leave, now!" She told him and the other two, already running back to her ship.

"The what bells?" Graham demanded as he and the others took off after her.

"What about the distress call? I thought we were gonna help these people?" Yaz asked as she caught up the Doctor who had finally reached her precious TARDIS. Graham and Ryan finally caught up, too, both panting and muttering about much they hated the running.

The Doctor turned to Yaz, fishing her key out of her pocket, "I know. I know. But, the TARDIS- she's warning us. Thinks there's something here that could be a threat to us all, even her."

"When isn't somethin' threatenin' us?" Graham pointed out, recovering from the short run back to the TARDIS. 

"This is different," she said. "I don't know what's happening here, I don't know who sent the distress signal, but this whatever it is, it's dangerous."

"Most of our a adventures so far have been dangerous," Ryan added. 

The Doctor let out a puff of irritated air, her key half way in the keyhole. "I know that," she ground out through gritted teeth. "Look, what I'm sayin', is I want you lot to stay inside the TARDIS. I'll go deal with whatever's here, while you lot stay safe," she ordered, and twisted the key, opening the doors to her ship. 

Unfortunately for her, her companions didn't move an inch, staring at her, unimpressed. This prompted her to make a sort of desperate gesture for them to get inside the TARDIS, which the ignored. 

"We're not gonna stay inside the TARDIS while you run off into some unknown danger," Yaz said, arms crossed.

"Yeah, we're a team, remember?" Ryan stated.

The TARDIS doors stayed open, the Cloister Bells having stopped when they reached her, as the Doctor tried to think of a way to persuade her friends to stay safe in her ship. 

"Look," she started, "I don't want any of you gettin' hurt because of me. You'll be safe here in the TARDIS, nothin' can get through these doors."

Said doors suddenly slammed shut, making the Doctor jump and yank her hand away. A wheezing sound filled the air and the Doctor whined as the TARDIS started slowlt fading from view.

"No, no, no," she moaned, hands flying to her head as if she couldn't comprehend what had just happened. When the TARDIS was gone, she looked down at the small silver key on the floor where it had fallen when the ship took off. With a huff, she bent down and picked it up, repoketing it.

"What just happened?" Ryan questioned, the first to speak up since the TARDIS disappeared a moment ago. "Where'd the TARDIS go?"

Gathering her bearings, the Doctor straightened up and pulled her sonic out of her pocket, scanning around with it. "Dunno. Looks like something interfered with it and pulled her away from here," she mused, looking at the readings on her sonic. "Guess we're stuck here till she comes back!" She told her friends, trying to seem happier than she actually was. 

"So, what do we do till then?" Asked Ryan.

"Well, we did come here because of a distress signal. Might as well check it out," the Doctor reluctantly answered.

"Thought it was 'too dangerous'," Ryan jokingly said. 

"It is, but we don't have much choice until the TARDIS comes back. Come on, fam, let's get a shift on!" The Doctor grinned and started heading back the way they'd started before turning around for the TARDIS. 

"Do you even know where you're goin', Doc?" Graham asked as he, Ryan, and Yaz trailed after her. 

"Like I said, I've never been here before. But, I am getting some strange signals from over there," the Doctor trailed off, eyeing her sonic and looking in the direction of a large, intimidating building far in the distance by itself as the sun set on the horizon behind it. 

"Anyone else getting a bad feelin' 'bout that buildin'?" Graham asked casually.

No one answered, but the Doctor couldn't say she diagreed with him. Either way, the unusual signals were coming from the building and, with nothing else to do until the TARDIS returned, the Doctor picked up her pace and headed for the building in the distance.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> U g h, I love writing things from Graham's POV.
> 
> For some reason I write better at one-two AM.

When the Doctor tried the rusty, metal door, she was unsurprised to find it locked. She shot her fam a sheepish smile and turned back to the door with her sonic screwdriver held out in front of her. A press of a button and a familiar buzz later, and the door clicked open, unsurprisingly. 

"Aha," the Doctor grinned and pushed the creaky handle downwards. Another push opened the door until it got stuck half way open. The Doctor tried to budge it a bit more, but it wouldn't move due to the rust keeping it frozen. 

"Might be a bit of a squeeze," she told her friends with an apologetic smile. Graham rolled his eyes, not surprised that even getting through a door would be a difficult task with her. "Come on then, fam," she lightened up and slipped through the gap between the door. 

Sharing a look with Ryan and Yaz, Graham followed behind the Doctor into the cold building. He wasn't sure how to describe he feeling he got entering it, but he knew that something wasn't right. Usually he wouldn't mind the quiet (it was all he'd ever wanted since he started travelling with the Doctor) but in that building, it made him uneasy. It smelled old- if that was even a smell- and musty. A look at the off-white ceiling above him, revealed a few large rot patches. 

Graham made a face and threw a look at the Doctor who he could see was eyeing the ceiling, too. She was wrinkling her nose and looking around suspiciously, but when she noticed him watching her, she replaced her slightly disgusted face with a friendly smile. He turned back to make sure Ryan and yaz were alright, and when he was sure, he started after the Doctor who'd continued further into the building. Following the Doctor, Graham tried to ignore the one or two rat-like things he'd seen scurrying about

As they walked further and further, Graham peered into the small windows of the less-rusty doors lining the cold corridor. Each room was empty and only a few had a single bed placed neatly in the centre of them. The beds had a part at the top that was clearly used for people's heads. On either side of the bed were brown leather straps for the occupant's wrists, and two more at the bottom for their ankles. He rose an eyebrow, wondering what on Earth (well, not literally) this place was. 

"This is proper creepy," Ryan stated, breaking the silence had fallen upon them since they'd entered the building. 

"You're tellin' me," Graham agreed, taking on last look into one of the rooms. He shuddered, not gettiny good vibes from it, and looked towards the Doctor. He wasn't sure if she'd payed any attention to the rooms, but the worried look he spotted on her face answered that question. He sometimes forgot the Doctor was a lot more observant than he gave her credit for. He amount of times she'd gotten them out of trouble because she'd noticed something utterly ridiculous that he never would have in a million years wss astounding, he had to remember.

"Ah, cheer up, you lot," the Doctor chastised jokingly, turning to face them, but not stopping walking. Neither of them said anything so the Doctor turned back around, unbothered, just in time to stop herself before walking into the door in front of her. 

This time when she tried to open it, she found it unlocked. Unlike the door before, this one wasn't rusty or practically falling off the hinges. It was was in surprisingly good conition compared to the rest of the building so far. 

The Doctor opened the white, metal door to reveal a large room that Graham was sure wouldn't have even fit inside the building judging by the size on the outside. The only wau Graham could describe it was 'TARDIS'. It wasn't that much bigger than what it had seemed from the outside, but the curved ceiling that reached up at least fifty feet was a slight give away. 

"Woah," Ryan breathed, stepping into the room with Yaz. 

"Yeah, woah," the Doctor nodded with a frown that didn't seem very 'woah'.

"How can this be bigger on the inside?" Yaz asked. "It is like the TARDIS?" 

"No, this isn't a ship," the Doctor said, "it's just a building."

"Then how's it bigger on the inside?" Graham found himself questioning. 

"Time Lord technology," a male voice answered him before the Doctor could even open her mouth. It didn't seem like she was going to say anything, anyway, what with the way she was looking around in confusion Perhaps she didn't know the answer herself, Graham mused.

"What technology?" Ryan asked, the first to cover from the shock of a new person appearing in the room with them.

Graham turned around to see a man with short brown hair and a goatee stood in the doorway. He was wearing a smart suit and shiny black shoes, a massive contrast to the falling apart corridor they'd just left. 

The man ignored Ryan and stepped forward into the room, and just a little bit further until he was stood face to face with the Doctor. The man was a good few inches taller than the Doctor, making him tower above her. Not that his alien friend was any less intimidating with way she was stood staring at the man. The man looked at the Doctor like he could see into her soul itself, and it was the same with his friend. They stared at each other like they knew each other more than the other knew themselves. Graham wasn't sure whether they were friends or enemies, though. Maybe they were both, Graham thought, watching as the man finally smiled and let out a small chuckle. 

"Doctor," he said in a way of greeting, "what a surprise." 

"Did you send out that distress signal?" The Doctor asked, getting straight to the point.

"Not even a hello? No?" The man mockingly frowned, feigning hurt. "Fine, yes," he admitted when the Doctor said nothing, "I sent out the distress signal."

"Do you need help? Or was it just another ruse to get me to come find you?" Were the next questioned the Doctor threw at the man.

Said man chuckled once again, putting his hands up. Graham didn't miss the way the Docto tensed as if she expected he man to do something, then relaxed slightly when he didn't. "Oops, you got me," he said. "I was hoping you could stay and chat a little longer, but you always want to get right to the point, Doctor," the man sighed melodramatically. 

He reached a hand into his pocket, to which the Doctor quickly grabbed Graham and Yaz's arms and dragged them behind her. Ryan was already behind her, so he stayed exactly where he was.

The man pulled out a black pistol from his innercoat pocket and held it out in front of him, straight at the Doctor's head as if he percieved her to be the greatest threat and Graham and the other two weren't even worth taking notice of.

"Put the gun down, Master," the Doctor said slowly, her arms still held out to keep Graham, Ryan, and Yaz behind her.

The Master laughed at the Doctor, like what she'd said was the most incredulous thing ever. Suddenly, his gun was aiming at Yaz and Graham's heart skipped a beat. He stared wide at at the Master, shaking all over for Yaz's sake. He didn't know what he would do if the man shot Yaz, and God-knows what the Doctor would do.

"Step away from you little human pets, Doctor," the Master ordered, suddenly very serious. "Or I shoot her." 

The Doctor turned to look at Yaz, obvious confliction in her eyes. It all fell away, though, when she turned back to the Master then stepped away from Graham, Ryan, and Yaz. 

"Good," the Master grinned, his gun still trained on Yaz, "now, your little pets are going to follow me to one of the cells in the hallway, and you're going to stay here." 

He looked to the Doctor as if making sure she understood. The Doctor stayed still for a moment, merely glaring at the Master, before she nodded her head. 

With the Doctor listening to him, the Master gestured for Graham, Ryan, and Yaz to lead the way back out into the hallway. Graham was the one to make a move first, Ryan and Yaz most likely too shocked or scared to comprehend when things had gone to shit so quickly, so to speak. 

It was only when the door to the room the Doctor was in slammed shut, did Graham realise that his grandson and Yaz had eventually followed him out and the Master was there pointing a gun at them still.

"What do you want with the Doctor?" Yaz demanded. Graham turned to look at her, silently pleading with his eyes for her to stop, but she kept her eyes trained on the Master, unbothered by the gun. "You obviously know her, and she knows you. Who are you?" 

The Master huffed a laugh at her, seeming to find her questions amusing. "I'm the Master, the Doctor's childhood friend and closest enemy," he answered. 

"'Closest enemy'?" Ryan repeated with confusion.

"Yes, we're always trying to kill each other- it's our flirting," he grinned then aimed the gun at the nearest door, "get in."


	3. Chapter Three

The Doctor watched silently (not like she had a choice) as the Master paced back and forth in front of her. He'd long ago repocketed his weapon, knowing he wouldn't need it- not with the Doctor's friends imprisoned and at his mercy. The Master had gone on a small rant when he'd returned from locking up the Doctor's fam as he secured her to an operation table so she had no way of escape, but now he was silent which was more worrying than when he was listing off all the ways he could hurt her.

As the Master continued his pacing, the Doctor found herself looking around the room as much as she could with her limited movement. Unlike when she and her friends had arrived, there was now more equipment in there (most of which the Doctor knew the use of). 

There was nothing to do but wait until the Master had finished his pacing- something he'd been doing since he was a boy. The Doctor might have tried to persuade him to give up and let her and her friends go (tjough, could anyone persuade the Master to do anything?) If she weren't strapped to a vertical table with another strap covering her mouth. The situation she was in now reminded her a lot of when the Master had almost successully taken over Earth and turned humans into the 'Master Race'.

"Oh, take that look off your face," the Master suddenly said. The Doctor looked at him and only then realised he'd stopped pacing to watch her. "Anyone would think you were being forced to stay here. Oh, wait," he laughed, causing the Doctor to roll her eyes at his childlike humour. 

"Doctor," he then said after a moment of silence, "oh, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor."

The Doctor rose an eyebrow in question.

"What are we going to do with you?" The Master asked as he stepped forward and pushed a strand of blonde hair from her face. He backed away and turned to a medical trolley which held a device that looked similar to a heart monitor but was smaller. 

Pulling out the wires, he approached the Doctor again and put one on either side of her head, watching her intently as he did so. The Doctor stared back, curious as to what he was doing, but unable to question him.

"Now," the Master said, attaching the final wires to her inner arms, "we're going to try something... spontaneous today. Something I've wanted to try ever since I was a boy at the Academy."

This caught the Doctor's attention. There were a lot of things the Master had wanted to try at the Academy- not all of them good.

The Master walked away from the Doctor over to some draws which he wheeled back over to her for better access while he did whatever he was doing. He opened one of the draws and rummaged through multitudes of items until he seemed to find what he was looking for. 

With an orange tube in hand, the Master took his position by the Doctor once again and connected the tube to the heart monitor-like thing then put an oxygen mask on the end of it. He then turned to the Doctor, and with the mask in hand, he undid the strap over her mouth for better access to put it on her.

"Stop this," the Doctor said as soon as she could speak again.

"Or what?" The Master challenged. "What are you going to do? Stop me?" 

The Doctor stayed silent at that because the way things were looking, she couldn't stop him. And even if she had a plan, saying too much could alert the Master of that plan. 

The Master huffed a small chuckle at her lack of response, "that's what I thought."

He unstrapped the other strap over her forehead and slipped the oxygen mask over her head so it was sitting almost comfortably over her nose and mouth. 

The Doctor followed the tube with her eyes to a silver, metal canister in the corner of the room and tried to read the label with her eyes. The font was small and she could barely make out a few words before the Master stepped in her way as he strapped her forehead again.

"Why are you doing this?" The Doctor asked him, her voice muffled under the mask. 

The Master made a thoughtful face as he checked the wires connected to her head to make sure they were secure. 

"Well, why not?" He questioned.

Stepping away, the Master stood back to appreciate the sight as he blindly reached a hand to his right where the trolley stood.

"We're friends of old, Doctor, I appreciate your help. And I'm sorry for this," for a moment he almost looked truly sorry for whatever he was going to do, but the familiar grin that lingered throughout his regenerations wiped any sympathy from his eyes. Without taking his eyes away from her, the Master pressed one of the buttons on the thing that looked like a heart monitor. 

And that's when the Doctor felt the pain coursing through her body like electricity. An almost familiar pain, like regeneration, but amplified by a hundred. Regenerating would be a mercy right now, thought the Doctor as she closed her eyes and clenched her jaw against the pain. Well, maybe she would. 

The burning, hot pain started at her forehead where the wires were and worked its way down right to her fingertips and toes. No part of her body was left in relief against the pain the rest of her was feeling.

A beeping noise reached her consciousness and she managed to open her eyes slightly, feeling disorientated with the light of the room blinding her. She looked to her left where the Master was concentrated on his little machine that seemed to go be going haywire. A grin made its way onto her face and she chuckled slightly at his angry expression. She knew his little experiment would never work. He'd never listened in the Academy when their professors were explaining things. Always jumping straight into things without doing any research first.

As soon as she saw the Master press a red button on the machine, her eyes managed to widen in shock seconds before a pained scream ripped from her throat and her body tensed all over, convulsing and pushing against the straps holding her down.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long wait, but life has been getting in the way and I've barely had time to write anything lately. 
> 
> I hope you understand and enjoy this chapter.

After several long, agonising minutes spent screaming and convulsing, the pain came to an abrupt stop. An annoying ache lingered all over, causing the Doctor to groan and her breath to hitch from too much movement. 

The beeping had quietened down the room was left in a thick, almost silence. 

Opening her heavy eyes, the Doctor blinked around the room, curiosity too pressing to ignore. What had gone wrong with the Master's machine? And where was he?

The Doctor strained her ears to listen for any sign of the Master being in the room, but she couldn't hear anything over her labored breathing and the frantic beating of her hearts.

_Clang_

The Doctor looked around as much as she could for the source of the noise, her hands in fists in anticipation for whatever was to come.

"Well, that went well, wouldn't you say?" The Master's merry voice spoke up from behind her, making the Doctor let out a breath of air she'd been holding in. "Much better than when we were at the Academy. Practicing on rats and frogs isn't as fun as on actual people."

"What the... Hell was that?" The Doctor breathed, voice scratchy and sore. Her wrists were as bad as her throat, she found when she moved them a little.

The Master dramatically sighed and came into view.

"Oh, Doctor, don't you remember our engineering lessons?" He asked.

"Can't say I do, no," the Doctor croaked, resting her head on and closing her eyes, yet forcing herself to remain conscious so she could figure out what the Master's game was.

"Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, it's a wonder you've survived this long when you can't even retain the slightest details from our days at the Academy."

"It was a long time ago," the Doctor retorted.

"Two thousand years is hardly that long."

"Well, maybe I chose to forget," the Doctor snapped, opening her eyes once more to find the Master studying her carefully.

"I thought you'd have been holding onto any memory of Gallifrey as best you could- I know how sentimental you can get, dear Doctor."

The Doctor had, had enough of discussing Gallifrey (she still hadn't forgiven them for trapping her for four billion years) so she decided to change the subject to one that interested her.

"Can I just ask, Master, cause I know you love to boast as much as I do," she started, perking up a bit as she recovered from what she'd just been put through, "why are you doing this? There has to be a reason- there always is with you."

The Master laughed, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. 

"What? Are you serious?" He asked.

A frown crossed the Doctor's face before she erased it lest he think she was confused. She was (completely confused), but it wouldn't do for him to know that. 

"Doctor," the Master breathed, ceasing his laughter, "I'm doing this for _fun_. That's my reason. I'm not trying to rule the universe, I'm not trying to kill anyone- yet- and I'm certainly not trying to blow up any planets because I'm bored. I'm just doing this for fun."

"'Fun'?" The Doctor repeated, incredulous.

Blowing up planets and mass murder, she could deal with. What she wasn't equipped for, however, was the Master torturing her for  _fun._

"Are you sure?" She asked a moment later, scronching her face and tilting her head a bit. "I mean, don't you want to, I don't know, kill me or blow up this planet?"

"Why would I want that?" The Master inquired, looking perfectly innocent.

"Well, I don't know, because it's what you do! What you always want!" The Doctor pointed out, unable to grasp the fact that he was simply trying to have fun.

"Well, yes, but this time I just want to spend time with my best friend and reminisce the old days on Gallifrey by reenacting our engineering lessons," the Master defended himself.

"Okay, fine, but do you have to do them on me?" The Doctor tugged her straps, annoyed and a bit confused.

"Of course I do, who else am I going to test my devices on? Your human pets?"

"I would have thought they would have been your first choice, actually."

"Perhaps, but they wouldn't last long and I know how fussy you can get when they die," the Master shrugged nonchalantly, altering the settings on his machine to what looked like a higher voltage. "Besides, it's funnier to watch you squirm and try to get out of those bonds than it would be with your pets."

"They're not my pets," the Doctor huffed, trying and failing to remember the device he had rebuilt. She couldn't remember ever learning about it at the Academy, but she must have because it looked like Gallifreyan technology and there definitely wasn't any planets in the universe that could replicate it so perfectly. Gallifrey had always been ahead of its time. "Can't we just you know text and eat scones like any normal couple of mates?"

She felt her face heat up when she remembered saying something along those lines when she had been trying to get Amy and Rory back together when the universe had been falling apart. 

"You've gone native," the Master noted, sneering at the use of the word 'mates', not tearing his eyes away from his device. The word 'mates' had originated on Earth in the first place and most Gallifreyans tried to avoid using anything native to Earth. "Are you... blushing?" He rose an eyebrow when he finally looked up.

"What? No! I'm just hot," the Doctor stuttered, forcing herself to calm down as she fidgeted.

The Master shook his head and smirked, going back to his device. 

"Ready?" He asked, briefly glancing at her.

"No- don't you d-" the Doctor started only for her throat to seize up and for her to choke on air, her back arching forcefully.

Her eyes slammed shut once again, just like before, and she was only able to hold on for a minute until the pain became unbearable and she screamed. 


	5. Chapter Five

_The Doctor opens her eyes sluggishly, blinking them a few times when all she can see is red. Red everywhere. But when they're fully open, she realises there's nothing wrong with her, she's just not where she should be. She thinks._

_As far as she can tell, she's on Gallifrey._

_A breath catches in her throat (at least, she thinks it does) and she looks around in confusion, expecting Rassilon and the rest of the High Council to turn up any second and detain her, but it doesn't happen._

_Allowing herself to lower her guard, just slightly, the Doctor takes a small step forward, beginning her journey to... Well, wherever her feet take her._

_When her feet touch the ground, the sound that reverberates is echo-y and muffled, all at the same time. The Doctor frowns._

_"What's going on?" She wonders aloud, only for the same thing to happen to her voice. It makes her ears feel weird and she shakes her head to rid herself of the feeling._

_She's about to continue walking, despite how off everything sounds, when another noise, this one not muffled and echo-y, reached her ears._

_"Oh, come on, Theta, loosen up a little!"_

_The voice is familiar, and so is the name, but she can't quite put her finger on it so her frown deepens and she turns around to find the source of the voice._

_There are two little boys running up a bank of red grass, one of them with several books held close to his chest, tightly in his arms, and the other with boy with a long stick in his hands which he's using to hit the long grass._

_Everything about this feels old and familiar, but the Doctor can't think at the moment, her mind is so muddled and full that she just can't..._

_"Koschei, we're going to be late to class again! This will be the fourth time this week," the other boy, Theta, complains, following Koschei anyway._

_"Oh, don't be such a bore, Thete, we'll get back on time, I promise," Koschei retorts, coming to a stop at the base of a tall tree with beautiful, silver leaves. Something the Doctor misses so much._

_Theta sighs and sets his books down at the base of the tree, stretching his arms out, an obvious sign they're aching from carrying such a heavy weight for so long._

_"I wonder how high I can climb," Koschei grins, a grin that looks like he's challenging the tree itself._

_"Oh, Kos, not this again," Theta rolls his eyes, "remember what happened last time? We both got into trouble before you even reached the third branch."_

_"Yes, but we won't get into trouble now," Koschei says, "besides, the Citadel is all the way over there. No one can see us. You can even come up, too, if you like."_

_"I don't think so," Theta sneers, "I'm just going to stay down here on the solid ground where I won't send myself into my first regeneration."_

_Koschei chuckles._

_"You're so boring, Thete," he mocks fondly, but it doesn't seem to impress Theta as the boy simply scowls at him._

_"I am_ not  _boring," he declares, arms crossed crossly._

_"Yeah? Then come up this tree with me if you're not boring."_

_"I don't see what climbing up-"_

_"See? Boring!" Koschei cuts him off, leaving Theta to stare at him, mouth agape._

_"Fine, I'll come up the stupid tree with you," Theta decides and gestures for Koschei to hurry up at get climbing._

_As Koschei does so, the Doctor finds herself drawing closer slowly, worried that this Koschei boy might fall just as Theta had claimed. Her instincts are kicking in and she wants to say something, to tell Koschei to stop and get down, but she has a feeling he won't hear her. After all, none of them seem to have spotted her yet and she's stood only a few feet away._

_Koschei grabs onto the first branch and hauls himself up so he's sitting on it. He looks down to Theta and smiles proudly, only to recieve a disapproving frown in response. Shaking his head, Koschei grabs the branch above him and climbs up._

_When he's on it, Theta sighs from the ground and starts making his own way up the tree. The process is a lot more shaky and cautious than when Koschei had made his way up, but eventually he finds himself on the first branch and he lets out a relieved sigh. The Doctor breathes one with him._

_With both boys up the tree, the Doctor moves from where she's stood a few feet away to stand under the tree instead just in case they fall._

_Koschei is now quite high up in the tree and Theta is only just moving onto the second branch. The Doctor can tell from where she's stood that his entire body is shaking and she thinks it can't be good for him. It'll put his balance off._

_Theta tries to haul his body onto the second branch, but with how much he's shaking, he can't do it. He huffs and stops for a moment, taking a second to himself to try and calm his frayed nerves._

_"You all right down there, Thete?" Koschei asks from above._

_"Perfectly fine, Koschei," Theta says, but, funnily enough, the Doctor doesn't believe him._

_Steeling himself, Theta tries again to climb onto the branch above him. It all seems to be going well until..._

_"Ah!" Theta exclaims, foot slipping. He ends up dangling off of the branch he'd been standing on, only his hands creating distance between him and the floor below him. "Koschei, help!"_

_The Doctor stands below, eyes wide and ready to catch him should Koschei be unable to help him._

_Koschei looks down and the Doctor can see his eyes widen._

_"Hold on, Thete, I'm coming!" He declares and starts backing down the tree to reach Theta who is already starting to slip._

_"Hold on!" The Doctor calls, unable to keep quiet anymore. Her voice is still muffled and seems to echo around them, though there's too much around for there to be an echo._

_Theta doesn't seem to hear her, neither does Koschei who is still coming back down._

_Blessedly, Koschei finally reaches Theta and holds out a hand for his friend to grab. Looking down first, Theta gathers his nerves first then quickly lets go and grabs Koschei's offered hand._

_Both boys give great sighs of relief and Koschei prepares to pull Theta into a safe position._

_"I- I don't know if I can do it," Koschei admits a short moment later after trying to pull Theta up._

_"You can't let me go," Theta points out worriedly and the Doctor has to admit he's right, but what else can Koschei do?_

_Koschei grunts, holding onto the branch above him and trying to pull Theta up onto the branch he's crouched on._

_"I can't..." Koschei starts, his own hands starting to lose their grip on both the branch and Theta's hand._

_In a move that was too quick for the Doctor to comprehend, Koschei let go of Theta's hand and the young boy went plummeting towards the ground._

"Theta!" The Doctor yelled, sitting up. Or, she tried to, only to be yanked back by her bonds. 

"Reminiscing, are we?" The Master mused. He was stood casually in front of her, leaning against the door that led to her friend's cell out in the hallway.

The Doctor shook her head in confusion, trying to comprehend her dream, of sorts. She hadn't dreamt of her youth since, well, in forever. And she definitely hadn't dreamt of himself and the Master since after she ran away from Gallifrey.

"And, you know, that is a name I haven't heard in a long, long time. Theta," he said, testing the name on his tongue, "yeah, it just doesn't have the same ring to it as the Doctor, does it?"

"Shut up," the Doctor sighed.

Her head was pounding and her entire body was throbbing from the torture. She wasn't sure how long since the Master had pressed the button, or how long she had been unconscious but she was still hurting.

"Someone's tetchy," the Master rolled his eyes and pushed off from the door, making his way towards her. "Now, I'm getting kind of bored with this. I was thinking we could try something different."

"Like what?"

"Glad you asked."

He made his way over to the other side of the room, the Doctor watching him all the while. He opened a metal door hidden in the wall, almost invisible, and pulled out another trolley. This one looked more familiar to the Doctor, like something she had once known but could now hardly rember.

"Ah, I see remember it," the Master commented, "good. That makes things a bit easier."

He pulled the trolley over to her and started removing the wires from the current machine she was connected to. The Doctor glared at him and attempted once more to pull herself free, but she was unable so she simply leaned her head back and closed her eyes, trying to think of a plan while the Master got on with it.

With her eyes closed, she could feel the new wires being connected to her and while she was genuinely scared beneath the surface, she remained docile and let him continue.

"I trust you remember what it does?" The Master asked and stepped back.

The Doctor opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Ah, I see," the Master hummed, "you know, your memory's getting worse in your old age."

The Doctor scoffed.

"You're not that young, yourself," she retorted.

He made a noncommittal face and shrugged, turning to the machine. 

"Well, you're about to find out what it does, anyway," he continued, adjusting the settings on the machine situated on the trolley.

Steeling herself, the Doctor viscously tugged on the straps binding her wrists, ignoring the Master's laughing.

"You'd might as well stop, you're not getting out, dear," he chuckled.

"When has that ever stopped me?"

No more words were spoken as the Master went back to fiddling with his machine and the Doctor continued tugging at her straps.

"Ready?" The Master asked.

A small tearing noise erupted and the Doctor froze, looking up at the Master who rose his eyebrows at her. He didn't seem to have heard the noise and he was waiting for an answer.

"Ready," said the Doctor. 


End file.
